CINCINNATI – Twins manager Paul Molitor knows he's running out of time on making an important decision regarding his rotation.
"It's getting closer," he said. "I think about it a lot. I talk to [pitching coach] Neil Allen and [bullpen coach] Eddie Guardado about it. I'm not going to make it before I have to."
Ervin Santana is expected to make his Twins debut Sunday at Kansas City after serving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for the banned substance Stanozolol. That means someone will have to be removed from the rotation to make way for him; the Twins don't appear willing to try a six-man rotation.
If recent outings are the separator, righthander Trevor May would appear to be on the hot seat. May on Friday got one out while giving up six runs to Milwaukee, while the other members of the rotation have ranged from being functional to Tommy Milone posting a 2.03 ERA in June.
Then again, May is scheduled to start Wednesday against Cincinnati and could make the Twins' decision ever tougher with a strong outing.
The starting rotation entered Tuesday with a 3.96 ERA that is sixth-best in the American League. Now Santana is coming, and someone has to go. It's a decision that could touch some nerves.
"I think it is going to be important that whoever is involved with that, that we really take our time to communicate why and what our plans are and why it is going to make us better overall," Molitor said. "We've got guys penciled in up until the day Ervin is supposed to return. We'll see where we are at. Hopefully these guys will continue to make it tough on us by giving us good starts."
General Manager Terry Ryan said if the team remembers that the objective is to win, then whoever must leave the rotation for Santana should understand the reason for the move.